GENEVA (AFP) - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday said he had delivered a "strong" appeal to military commanders in Afghanistan to avoid civilian casualties.

"I'm still very much concerned and saddened by this continuing violence and particularly by the civilian casualties," Ban said ahead of a meeting in Rome with NATO and Afghan leaders on conditions in war-battered Afghanistan.

The UN chief made a fleeting visit to Kabul on Friday for talks with President Hamid Karzai and with the commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

"I have made a strong request to the Afghan leaders as well as military commanders to avoid civilian casualties during the course of their military operations," Ban said in a news conference in Geneva.